Greeting
1Paul, an apostle — not from men or by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead — 2and all the brothers who are with me:
To the churches of Galatia.
3Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. 5To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
No Other Gospel
6I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — 7not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! 9As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!
10For am I now trying to persuade people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
The Origin of Paul’s Gospel
11For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. 12For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ.
13For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism: I intensely persecuted God’s church and tried to destroy it. 14I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. 15But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased 16to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone. 17I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who had become apostles before me; instead I went to Arabia and came back to Damascus.
18Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to get to know Cephas, and I stayed with him fifteen days. 19But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. 20I declare in the sight of God: I am not lying in what I write to you.
21Afterward, I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22I remained personally unknown to the Judean churches that are in Christ. 23They simply kept hearing, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24And they glorified God because of me.